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How much did your handicap go down?

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hitmanharleyk

hitmanharleyk

Swing Easy, Hit it Hard!
Joined
Dec 18, 2011
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in God's Country
Handicap
GHIN 3.6
within 2 months of being fitted the first time, how much did your handicap go down?

This should show the benefits of being fitted.
 
I am now consistently in the low 90s. I was around 105-110. That is with fitted clubs AND lessons and a horrific short game :) I am hoping to take anoth 5-6 strokes consistently off my game with my short game work I am doing now.
 
My iron fitment alone dropped me from 14 to 11 over a few months! I drop most shots off the tee so a few lessons and a properly fitted driver will hopefully improve this!
 
It's hard to see a score improvement for me since I only got a Driver fitting. My handicap stays the same since fitting, around 14-18. But my tee shots are greatly improve. From 6/14 on the fairway gone to 12/14 on the fairway. The distance is also very consistent around 230 yards.

If I want to get a lower score, I have to improve my iron shots. They don't always land on the green you know. So it takes more than fitting in order to lower my handicap.
 
I have shaved 6 strokes since getting fitted for every club in the bag ... including my putter. It has been roughly 6 months.
 
hitmanharleyk said:
within 2 months of being fitted the first time, how much did your handicap go down?

This should show the benefits of being fitted.
Click to expand...

Been awhile since my first fitting, but I don't think my index went down because of the fitting alone. Having proper clubs lead me to a summer of lessons. The lessons and the good that came from them had a huge impact on lowering my index. Fit clubs are one thing, but it still takes a certain amount of skill and hard work to shave down your handicap. Not taking anything away from proper fittings, it is a very important part of the overall equation.
 
A couple of shots, maybe 3. But that was for a loft/lie/length fitting, not a full-blown clubfitting. I also changed clubs at the same time (the fitting was for the Adams clubs I tested late last year.
 
A good rule of thumb is 25%. If you're a 20, you can look to get to a 15. If you're an 8, maybe a 6. Throw in lessons to the equation and you're off an running.
 
gunmetal said:
A good rule of thumb is 25%. If you're a 20, you can look to get to a 15. If you're an 8, maybe a 6. Throw in lessons to the equation and you're off an running.
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I'm sure it varies greatly, and I doubt a club fitting will take someone from a 20 to a 15 over a few months.
 
I got a fitting and lessons last year. My handicap went up. :D

But, I was playing terribly.
 
i got fitted clubs and went up a stroke due to lessons re-vamping my swing. awesome. here's to optimism!
 
gioguy21 said:
i got fitted clubs and went up a stroke due to lessons re-vamping my swing. awesome. here's to optimism!
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I actually need to take my clubs back and have them check my length and lie angle as have had several lessons since getting them fitted and now seem to be pushing my irons right......although based on yesterday when I played 5 shots under my handicap perhaps I should just leave them!
 
Anders73 said:
I actually need to take my clubs back and have them check my length and lie angle as have had several lessons since getting them fitted and now seem to be pushing my irons right......although based on yesterday when I played 5 shots under my handicap perhaps I should just leave them!
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Pushes are a good thing to have. Just strengthen your grip.
 
Hard to say as started with lessons then got fit but feel I should fit again with driver as lessons really change your swing plane and attack angle which impacts driver numbers. I'd say I dropped 2 shots with fitting. Dropped 6 shots in total over past yr from 13 to 7 with lessons and equipment!!
 
Thain said:
Both. If you can only do one make sure its the one that grips the club
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So, bottom hand then. Cheers for the tip
 
Danilo said:
I'm sure it varies greatly, and I doubt a club fitting will take someone from a 20 to a 15 over a few months.
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It absolutely varies, but this is a pretty common result for my fittings. Most 20 cappers that see me are playing a driver close to 46" which is usually way to long. Their % of on center contact usually goes through the roof when we get them closer to 44". This usually results in 2-3 more fairways hit per round. That's probably 1 to 2 strokes per round. Another prevalent fix is set make up. Some will still be rocking a 3 iron, almost all still have a 4 iron. We usually end up with hybrids all the way through the 5 iron. How many shots do hybrids save? Another issue is fairway woods. 95% of golfers believe that their longest fairway wood has to be a 3 wood because that's what they've been trained to believe. The reality is the 3 wood is piss hard to hit solid. I can usually get the 20 capper to ditch the 3 wood for a 5 or even a 7 wood which they hit much better and more consistent which ultimately leads to dropped shots.

There are different levels of custom fittings. You are dead on with your assertion with big box fittings (Dicks, Golfsmith, Golf Galaxy, etc), but professionals (Accra, Fujikura Charter, Miura, KZG, KBS, Adams Pro Tech, etc dealers) do it at a different level which yield much better results.
 
Thanks for the in-depth reply. I was not aware that OEM's did a different fitting.
 
Pretty hard question to give an answer to. If the person was playing clubs way out of line for them, then I could see a fitting having a bigger impact over a person who would have been fit to standard length, lie, loft and correct flex and was playing clubs off the rack that were those specs already. For myself I could have never played off the rack clubs and had any success due to my height and swing, so a fitting would have a bigger impact on someone like me vs others.
 
I played worse. :D
 
gunmetal said:
A good rule of thumb is 25%. If you're a 20, you can look to get to a 15. If you're an 8, maybe a 6. Throw in lessons to the equation and you're off an running.
Click to expand...

Club fitting won't do that. Good short game will.
 
Handicap went down from a 12 to as low as an 7.5 last summer. Not by getting fitted though. Just played and practiced more. Tightening up the short game had the biggest impact which had nothing to do with fitting.
 
247GolfNut said:
Handicap went down from a 12 to as low as an 7.5 last summer. Not by getting fitted though. Just played and practiced more. Tightening up the short game had the biggest impact which had nothing to do with fitting.
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Agree, playing to closer to 22 than the 27 on my profile currently but if I sorted my short game out then I reckon I could be closer to 15-16
 
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